Wishbone Grpahics

The term Generation X came from a book by the same name written by Douglas Coupland in 1991. The fictional book is about three strangers who decide to distance themselves from society to get a better sense of their own identity. According to Jennifer Jochim, Nevada Outpost contributor, the media found elements of Coupland’s characters’ lives in America’s youth and labeled them Generation X. This stereotypical definition leads society to believe that Generation X, born between 1961 and 1981, is made up of cynical, hopeless, frustrated, and unmotivated slackers.

Time Magazine in a July 16, 1990 article said of the Gen Xers, “They possess only a hazy sense of their own identity but a monumental preoccupation with all the problems the preceding generation will leave for them to fix. … They feel paralyzed by the social problems they see as their inheritance: racial strife, homelessness, AIDS, fractured families, and federal deficits.”

Those “fractured families,” according Gen X expert Michael Muetzel, is a key environmental cause explaining why Gen Xers are the way they are. Forty percent were raised in single-parent households, and Gen Xers were four to five times more likely to have experienced divorce in their families than their baby boomer predecessors. Gen Xers came home from school to an empty house, had eight grandparents rather than four, most of whom were spread across the country. The changing family unit had a huge impact on shaping Gen Xers, but their exposure to the workplace contributed greatly as well.

When I grew up as a late boomer, dads started work when they graduated from school and worked for the same company until they retired. If they needed advice, like who to vote for, they went to someone they trusted, like their boss. On the other hand in the 1980s, young Gen Xers watched as corporate America cut 3.4 million jobs. But these weren’t just jobs, they were their parents. So when we wonder why Gen Xers hold a lack of trust about corporations, we simply need to look at their childhood frame of reference.

I have been a vocal cynic regarding generational studies suggesting that people from different generations need to be treated differently. I have always felt that people are people and that all must be treated right, and if you do so, they will respond. The recent acquisition of my company by a private equity group caused me to re-evaluate my opinions. As I read Muetzel’s book, They’re Not Aloof … Just Generation X, the scenario he described was hitting close to home, particularly as it relates to trust. Our new owners carefully laid out the vision for the company, what would be required of the leadership team, and what the team could expect when we achieved the company objectives. As is my (baby boomer) nature, I thought, “this sounds great – count me in!” Even as things progressed just as described, many of my colleagues continued to express doubt. They lacked trust. You guessed it; for the most part they were Gen Xers.

To seek clarity, I called author Muetzel. “Mike, tell me about how you came to write the book about Generation X.” He told me about work he had been doing in helping companies that were going through mergers and the increasing challenge he was finding in getting newly joined teams to work well together. Increasingly, it turned out to be about trust, or more specifically, the lack thereof. Bridging the trust gap was critical to the success of the merged organizations, so Muetzel had to find ways to bridge that gap. That led to seeking a full understanding of the roadblock – Gen X beliefs.

Reams and reams of paper have been used to write about Gen Xers and how to reach them, but perhaps one of the most important concepts is that Xers will not respond positively to being told “trust me.” They need to contribute to arriving at the conclusion; they need to have “ownership” in decisions. Muetzel’s drinking horse metaphor provides a good illustration: There is an old saying “You can lead a horse to water but you can’t make him drink.” You don’t have to lead Gen Xers to the water. Just explain why the water is important, and they will find it, drink it, figure out a way to make it easier so that you do not have to bend over to drink, and take care of the rest.

Contrary to my previously stated opinions, there is value in understanding generational differences and how environmental factors have shaped them. After all, life is all about working and playing well with others. By seeking to understand first, as I see it, the work and the play will be much more rewarding and enjoyable – trust me.